{"id":631,"date":"2014-06-24T14:37:51","date_gmt":"2014-06-24T09:07:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tibetnature.lhasocialwork.com\/en\/?p=631"},"modified":"2014-07-08T11:32:04","modified_gmt":"2014-07-08T06:02:04","slug":"rundown-reserves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tibetnature.net\/en\/rundown-reserves\/","title":{"rendered":"A Rundown Of Reserves Due To Mining"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chromite<\/strong>
\nChromite reserves in Tibet are the largest in today\u2019s political\u00a0China and the reserves in \u2018TAR\u2019 alone make up 40 per cent\u00a0of what China claims as its national reserve. Chromite is\u00a0the main material used to produce special steel and stainless\u00a0steel. The now-exhausted Shar Lung mine in Nagchu region\u00a0produced more than 60,000 tons of chromite ore between\u00a01978 and 1979.\u00a0From 1980 to 1985 the mine produced\u00a0300,000 tons of the ore, which had a value\u00a0of around US$ 11 million (Research and\u00a0Analysis Centre 1991).<\/p>\n

Norbusa Chromite Mine in Lhoka is the\u00a0largest of its kind in Tibet. The mine\u2019s potential\u00a0value is predicted at about US$ 375-500\u00a0million (Tibetan Review 1998a) and contains\u00a0more than 57 per cent of chromite oxide, rated as one of\u00a0the top chromite deposits in the world (DIIR 1996b). In the\u00a01980s, Norbusa mine produced a revenue of more than\u00a0US$ 1.5 million (China\u2019s Tibet 1996). In 1992, the mine\u00a0represented 50 per cent of the total industrial output of all\u00a0industrial enterprises in \u2018TAR\u2019, and the total extraction of\u00a0chromite between 1979 and 1989 was worth US$ 34 million.\u00a0The construction of the mine was a key state project in the\u00a0Eighth Five Year Plan (1991-95), with a total investment of\u00a0US$ 10.7 million (DIIR 1996b). The production of 190,000\u00a0tons of chromite in those five years has paid more than\u00a0US$ 3.25 million in tax to the \u2018TAR\u2019 (Waiser 1998).<\/p>\n

With more profit in producing ferrochrome than\u00a0metallurgical chromite, and with the increasing output of\u00a0chromite in Tibet, the authorities produced their first batch\u00a0of ferrochrome alloy in 1990. This demand is mainly driven\u00a0by the stainless steel industry and this inexorable trend looks\u00a0set to continue. By the end of last century the annual\u00a0production of ferrochrome alloy is expected to reach 5,000\u00a0tons (Xinhua 1998a).<\/p>\n

Copper<\/strong><\/p>\n

The \u2018TAR\u2019 has potential copper reserves of 13 million tons\u00a0with proven reserves of 8.85 million tons. The region contains\u00a014.4 per cent of \u201cChina\u2019s\u201d copper reserves, which make\u00a0up the third largest reserves and the largest porphyry copper\u00a0belt in \u201cChina\u201d. Yulong Copper Mine in Jomda County,\u00a0Chamdo, \u2018TAR\u2019, is among the largest mines of its kind in\u00a0the world with an area of 1,870 sq km. The mine has a\u00a0reserve of 7.14 million tons (Xinhua 1997a) and \u201cwith further\u00a0investment and exploration around the region, this copper\u00a0belt has tremendous significance in reducing China\u2019s foreign\u00a0exchange expenditure and increasing Tibet\u2019s national income\u201d,\u00a0states the internal document \u201cThe Specialist Plan for the\u00a0TAR\u201d (TIN 1997e).<\/p>\n

Despite China\u2019s remarkable growth of copper production\u00a0from 386,600 tons in 1980 to more than 1.1 million tons in\u00a01997, the country was unable to meet its demand of 1.3\u00a0million tons in 1997. Therefore, China has opened up seven\u00a0projects with big investments to curtail its copper imports.\u00a0Two of the projects are located in Tibet, namely the Yulong\u00a0Copper Mine in Chamdo and the\u00a0Sashithang Copper Mine in Tsolho, Amdo.\u00a0Both these mines are included in the Ninth\u00a0Five Year Plan (1996-2000) with an\u00a0investment of US$ 1.62 million and US$\u00a027.5 million respectively. The Sashithang\u00a0mine has proven copper reserves of 230,000 tons. The\u00a0operation of these mines in Tibet will help China ease its\u00a0copper shortage in the market (TIN 1997d).<\/p>\n

Other copper mines in Tibet, such as the one in Mongyon\u00a0Hui County, Tsochang, Amdo also have rich reserves and\u00a0good quality copper. Extraction at Mongyon Copper Mine\u00a0started in 1958, exporting of copper started in 1983, and\u00a0nowadays it is the chief source of income for people living\u00a0in that area. Copper reserves in Machen County in Golok\u00a0are considered to be 545,000 tons and in Norbusa Copper\u00a0Mine at Chusum, Lhoka, the Chinese authorities have an\u00a0investment of US$ 6.81 million (Research and Analysis\u00a0Centre 1991).<\/p>\n

Gold<\/strong>
\nTibet has abundant gold reserves, particularly in Amdo as\u00a0indicated by the following discoveries. On 22 July 1983,\u00a0three farmers found 3.5 kg of natural gold rock in Yaradu,\u00a0Wulan County (Research and Analysis Centre 1991) and in\u00a0another incident a lump of natural gold weighing 6.57 kg\u00a0was found in Amdo in 1996 (Tibetan Review 1997a). Hungjintai\u00a0Gold Mine in Matoe, Golok, located at an altitude of 4,670\u00a0metres is the highest gold mine in the world. The production\u00a0of gold in Amdo region in 1991 was over 200 kg (DIIR\u00a01992) and in 1995 it reached 827.5 kg (TIN 1999a). Kandze,\u00a0Kham, now incorporated into Sichuan Province, is a land\u00a0strewn with gold reserves. Though much of the mining is\u00a0kept secret, in 1986 China earned US$ 1.5 million from the\u00a0sale of gold mined in Kandze (Research and Analysis Centre\u00a01991). Tawo County, Kandze, alone had gold deposits of\u00a022 tons, according to Radio Lhasa on 23 September, 1985.\u00a0In Pongtsa-rawa, Dechen County in Kham, gold is collected\u00a0from the river.<\/p>\n

In the \u2018TAR\u2019, the Nagchu area has reserves of 10.1 tonnes\u00a0of alluvial gold. Bengna Zhuangbu Gold Mine in Shentsa\u00a0County, Nagchu, which started production in 1997, is the\u00a0largest gold mine in the region. The mine is one of the\u00a0highly publicised \u201c62 Development Projects\u201d in the \u2018TAR\u2019.\u00a0It is estimated that the mine will produce an annual average\u00a0of 450,000 cubic metres of ore, and 386.6 kg of gold, with\u00a0an annual net profit of US$ 1.56 million (Zhongguo Xinwen\u00a0She 1997).<\/p>\n

Laoran Mountain, Maodou, Markham in Kham,\u00a0produces more than 100 kg of gold annually and due to\u00a0gold content at a shallow depth the mine is expected to form\u00a0large-scale gold deposits in the near future.\u00a0In the \u2018TAR\u2019, an aggregate 14.225 tons of deposits was\u00a0discovered in six gold mining zones in 1993. In 1994, the\u00a0production of gold in the region was 13.527 kg, which was\u00a0an increase of more than 360 per cent from 1993. In 1995,\u00a0there were 148 gold mines zones in the \u2018TAR\u2019 (Tibet People\u2019s\u00a0Broadcasting Station 1995) with substantial gold reserves at 100 sites (Namgyal 1995).<\/p>\n

\"Untitled-1<\/a><\/p>\n

Oil and Gas<\/strong>
\nAccording to many geologists Tibet is perhaps \u201cthe last and\u00a0the largest oil belt on the continents\u201d. The region has\u00a0favourable geology for oil formations: The stratum are of\u00a0the Mesozoic and Cenozoic periods and similar to the oilfields\u00a0in the Persian Gulf and the Karakorum in Central Asia\u00a0(Xinhua 1997c). Tsaidam Basin in Amdo \u2014 an area of\u00a0220,000 sq.kms, almost the size of Britain \u2014 and Chang\u00a0Thang are the two major oil deposit zones in Tibet.<\/p>\n

Tsaidam Basin has oil reserves of 42 billion tons and\u00a0natural gas reserves of 1,500 billion cubic metres in 22\u00a0deposits (Tibet Daily 1998b). With China currently consuming\u00a022 billion cubic metres of gas a year, Tsaidam\u2019s estimated\u00a0reserves of 1,500 billion cubic metres would supply the\u00a0Mainland\u2019s current need for up to seven years. Gas has been\u00a0identified as the most practical and transferrable nonpolluting\u00a0energy to serve China\u2019s southern and eastern coastal\u00a0boom cities in future and Tibet\u2019s Tsaidam gas fields are\u00a0earmarked as the primary supplier. A pipeline is due to take\u00a0Tsaidam gas to Lanzhou in 2002 \u2014 the first phase in a\u00a0mammoth network to finally in corporate Xinjiang, Kazakh and Siberian gas fields. Since Chinese exploration started in\u00a01954, more than 23.5 million tons of oil has been extractedfrom Tsaidam.<\/p>\n

\"Untitled-1<\/a><\/p>\n

After years of oil exploration in Chang Thang, the first\u00a0deep oil deposit \u2014 with 200 million tons \u2014 has been found\u00a0in Lhunpula Basin. The basin is also stated to have a proven\u00a0deposit of 1.5 million tons of oil (Xinhua 1997c). In 1999\u00a0another discovery in the same region found higher oil\u00a0reserves of three million tons. According to several Chinese\u00a0scientists, the total reserve in the basin is predicted to contain\u00a0up to 10 million tons of oil. China National Star Petroleum\u00a0Corporation plans to build at least one field with an annual\u00a0capacity of 50,000 metric tons in the basin (South China\u00a0Morning Post 1999b).<\/p>\n

The basin is situated at an altitude of 4,700 metres above\u00a0sea level and it is located 300 km northwest of Nagchu in\u00a0Northern Tibet. An excellent quality oil field of 6 sq km\u00a0was found in the region, with four prospective first grade oil\u00a0gas zones, and one second prospective grade of oil zone.\u00a0Excellent conditions for the formation of oil were determined\u00a0in the region with three potential gas zones and 22 structured\u00a0zones. The achievement of the prospecting team in the region\u00a0was considered as a major breakthrough in oil discoveries.\u00a0Many Chinese scientists predict that the region will become\u00a0the major oil reserve base in the 21st century (Xinhua 1997c).<\/p>\n

Uranium<\/strong>
\nTibet has the world\u2019s largest deposits of uranium. By 1990\u00a0more than 200 uranium deposits were discovered in Tibet,\u00a0according to a China Daily report on 28 May 1990. The\u00a0actual size of the uranium resources on the plateau is closely\u00a0guarded by the Chinese government, but the location of the\u00a0resources are indicated by the presence of the former Ninth\u00a0Academy, which was involved in nuclear weapons\u00a0development, around the eastern mountainous shores of\u00a0Lake Kokonor (DIIR 1992). The largest uranium mine is in\u00a0Thewo, Kanlho (Gannan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture,\u00a0Gansu Province (Chutter 1998). Known mines of uranium\u00a0include Tsaidam Basin and Thewo in Amdo and Yamdrok\u00a0Tso and Damshung, near Lhasa (Dekhang 1998).<\/p>\n

Apart from mining uranium in Tibet, the Chinese also\u00a0extract strontium which is used for nuclear missile cladding\u00a0(Chutter 1998). A deposit of over 18 million tons of\u00a0radioacitve strontium was discovered at Tsaidam in 1994\u00a0according to Xinhua. Official said the deposit was near the\u00a0surface and easy to extract (Reuters 27 January 1994). The\u00a0concentration of plutonium in the deep salt lakes of Tsaidam\u00a0Basin is another major discovery in Tibet; however its\u00a0extraction is unknown. The salt lakes also contain well known,\u00a0large and accessible quantities of lithium which has many\u00a0industrial applications such as its use as a raw material for\u00a0nuclear fusion weapons (Slesser 1998). The lithium deposits\u00a0in Tsonub, Amdo and the \u2018TAR\u2019 represent nearly all of\u00a0\u201cChina\u2019s\u201d known lithium resources (Beijing Review 1998a) and\u00a0the total lithium deposits in Tibet are considered the largest\u00a0in the world (Waiser 1998).<\/p>\n

Cesium<\/strong>
\nA quarter of the world\u2019s cesium deposits\u00a0(27.6 per cent ) are discovered in Tibet (TIN\u00a01991) and, according to an announcement\u00a0made by the Chinese Academy of\u00a0Geological Science, the deposit discovered\u00a0in \u2018TAR\u2019 is estimated to have a value of as\u00a0high as US$ 6.48 billion. This rare metal is\u00a0mainly used in military and hi-tech applications, e.g. atomic\u00a0clocks and high-energy solid fuel. (Keji Ribao 1999).<\/p>\n

Source: Tibet 2000 Enviornment and Development Issues, DIIR<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chromite Chromite reserves in Tibet are the largest in today\u2019s political\u00a0China and the reserves in \u2018TAR\u2019 alone make up 40 per cent\u00a0of what China claims as its national reserve.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-minerals-and-mining"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tibetnature.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tibetnature.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tibetnature.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tibetnature.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tibetnature.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=631"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/tibetnature.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":749,"href":"https:\/\/tibetnature.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631\/revisions\/749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tibetnature.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tibetnature.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tibetnature.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}